Haiti: Where is God?

Haiti.

“Why did God do this?”

“Where was God when this happened?”

Besides the physical crosses that the residents of Haiti are now burdened with carrying, I can’t begin to imagine what the survivors of this disaster are suffering in their hearts. What are their priests giving to them in response to these demanding questions? I can only pray that they can find the right words but I’m certain that their answers are spoken through shared tears and hugs rather than in homilies.

It’s a delicate thing, attempting to answer these questions so close to the fact. You can’t tell the Haitian mother holding the cold body of her child in her arms that she’s wrong for asking such questions or even that she’s asking the wrong questions. They’re exactly the right questions. And they don’t signify a crisis of faith but rather a crisis of understanding. The answers given in response though, aren’t often always the right answers. Our first parents knew the right answers, if only because of experience. Eve knew where God was even as she cried over the lifeless body of Abel in her arms. And Mary, the new Eve, knew exactly where God was as she pressed her cheek against the Sacred but silent Heart of her only Son. Yet it didn’t make it any easier to bear.

When men destroy, be it lives or property, it is possible, naively maybe, to place blame upon them that they do so because they are evil. But when it is not men but “nature” that destroys, who is to blame? Not nature; it is certainly not evil. If not nature, then who?

We live in a fallen world. Pain is not new. Suffering is not new. But each time a tragedy befalls us, it is new to us individually and we have to make sense of it once again.

Father Walter Ciszek was an American Jesuit who spent twenty-three years trapped in the prisons and gulags of the Soviet Union, enduring unspeakable torments and experiencing first-hand the brutal depravities of our world. During his long trial, he began to gain an understanding of how God relates to us in times of upheaval – that He alone must be our ultimate hope and sole source of support:

“We go along, taking for granted that tomorrow will be very much like today, comfortable in the world we have created for ourselves, secure in the established order we have learned to live with, however imperfect it may be, and give little thought to God at all.

“Somehow, then, God must contrive to break through those routines of ours and remind us once again, like Israel, that we are ultimately dependant only upon Him, that He has made us and destined us for life with Him through all eternity, that the things of this world and this world itself are not our lasting city, that His we are and that we must look to Him and turn to Him in everything. Then it is, perhaps, that He must allow our whole world to be turned upside down in order to remind us it is not our permanent abode or final destiny, to bring us to our senses and restore our sense of values, to turn our thoughts once more to Him – even if at first our thoughts are questioning and full of reproaches. Then it is that He must remind us again, with terrible clarity, that He meant exactly what He said in those seemingly simple words of the Sermon on the Mount: Do not be anxious about what you shall eat, or what you shall wear, or where you shall sleep, but seek first the kingdom of God and His justice…

“Mysteriously, God in His providence must make use of our tragedies to remind our fallen human nature of His presence and His love, of the constancy of His concern and care for us. It is not vindictiveness on His part; He does not send us tragedies to punish us for having so long forgotten Him. The failing is on our part. He is always present and ever faithful; it is we who fail to see Him or to look for Him in times of ease and comfort, to remember He is there, shepherding and guarding and providing us the very things we come to count on and expect to sustain us every day…”

So, where then is God in this?

Praying before a statue of the Pieta right after news of the earthquake, the Archbishop of New York, Timothy Dolan, answered half of this question in the most profound theological terms: “Haiti is the broken, bloodied body of Christ.” In other words, God is right there. We are witnessing Him, right before us. In every person still holding on to life beneath the bricks of a fallen building, He is there. In every one of the one million children now left orphaned, He is there. In every one of the countless homeless wandering through the incomprehensible piles of corpses, He is there. In every husband, desperately trying to find a cup of water for his parched wife, He is there. Yes, we all have a share in the Resurrection, but as a race redeemed, we also all sometimes take part in His Passion. Christ scourged. Christ crucified.

The other half of the answer to the question should now be obvious. He is in every soul who stoops to give succor to that “broken, bloodied body” that is Haiti. He is in the volunteers that are feeding the hungry and burying the dead. He is in the priests delivering the Sacraments to the sick and dying. He is in the nuns stroking the cheeks of the broken-spirited. He is in the policemen and paramedics that tirelessly sift through the rubble, listening intently for sounds of life. He is in the doctors that have dropped their practice to fly off to stitch wounds and set broken bones. He is in the pilots and captains and truckers who have donated their services to deliver food and medicine. He is in the factory worker who has taken his vacation savings and given it to the special collection at his church. He is in the college student who has taken up a collection of shoes to be donated. He is in the prayer-warriors around the world that haven’t ceased reciting rosaries and chaplets of Divine Mercy for mitigation of the agony of that land.

Where is God?

He is in us, in the hearts of us all, and He’s urging us to act.

The Process

Not long ago, I heard a radio interview with Mike Kryzewski, the head coach of Duke University basketball. In it, he talked about some of the great athletes of our times and how they got that way. Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Muhammad Ali (although he of course also became famous for other things), these were men who were specialized in doing one thing - playing a game. They became great at what they did and reached the pinnacle of success. But these men transcended the American niche market to which they were initially confined. From New York to Beijing to the tiniest atoll in the South Pacific, it’s a task to find someone who hasn’t at least heard their names.

But how did they get to this pinnacle?

The natural inclination is to assume that they were given gifts that others just don’t possess. Maybe in a sense, but not necessarily, because there have been many, many others whose physical skills and abilities were far superior and yet they didn’t meet the full potential of their gifts. The great ones don’t take their gifts for granted.

The great ones rise to the top, as Coach Kryzewski pointed out, by embracing the “process” of greatness.

This isn’t a significantly original thought but it is one that is often and easily neglected. The reminder of it is important.

We can see the greatness of Michael Jordan hitting the buzzer-beater in the finals, of Tiger Woods doing the impossible at the Masters, and of Muhammad Ali playfully dodging every punch thrown his way. What we don’t see is the process they went through to be able to do this with what seems effortless ease.

The great ones suffer like no others.

“Good enough” isn’t good enough.

Hours after his teammates were gone from practice, Michael Jordan was still at the free throw line. Hours before the first tee-time, Tiger Woods is practicing his putts. While his opponent was out on the town enjoying a brevity of success, Ali was in the gym hitting the speed-bag.

When they aren’t practicing, they are conditioning, developing their bodies and minds to perform together at their peak levels. Every single day, they run, lift weights, and push their bodies beyond the limits. They never give up and they go to bed every night exhausted.
Behind the scenes, when they aren’t on stage, the great ones lives are entirely dedicated to the process. The process of perfection. When the time comes to perform, there is no hesitation.

Focus. Practice. Repetition. And finally, though only temporarily, perfection.

And so it is with us Christians, except in the end, our perfection is made permanent.

We’re all called to be saints. It’s not an option. How easy it is to look upon the lives of our many and varied great saints though, and intimidated say, “Oh, I could never be that way, I just don’t have it in me.” Some saints of course seem to have been born with a special grace but many of them didn’t have it in them either to begin with. What they did have, however, was the humble desire for perfection, born in the love of their Creator. Their desire, like the Mother of God herself, was to simply say “yes.”

Usually in proportion to what they gave to God, He would give back to them. If they gave Him heroic amounts of prayer, in return He would give them a heroic stamina. Think Padre Pio. If they fasted to severity, He would nourish them solely with the Eucharist. Think Jean Vianney. If their spirit waned, He provided the encouragement and patience. Think Mother Theresa.

The greatest saints often saw themselves as the greatest sinners. The closer they came to Christian perfection, the further they realized they were. This didn’t stop them though. They didn’t say “good enough.” They didn’t leave idle the gifts that were given to them and to all of us.

They submitted themselves to the process. They focused on Christ. They practiced their Faith. They repeated their prayers and performed their works. They went to bed each night exhausted. They stumbled too and fell sometimes, but each time appealing to our merciful Lord they began again with renewed vigor. Over and over and over again, never giving up, they committed themselves to our Lord. Through the process, they were perfecting themselves.

When the time came, there would be no hesitation.

Focus. Practice. Repetition. The process for greatness; for becoming a saint.

A Catholic Answer to Paranormal Questions

Do Catholics believe in the Paranormal?

The answer to this is emphatically: That depends.

The absolute core of our Faith as Catholics is the Supernatural.

God, as the creator of all things, is supernatural. He is “above” or “outside” of our created nature. When man was first put on earth, he was endowed with gifts that were beyond everything else in creation, even the angels. These gifts allowed him to partake in the perfection that was “natural” to God alone. His purpose and his destiny were divine.

God also made the angels, perfect creatures of pure spirit with infinite wisdom and an unending vision of their creator. We know that a number of them rebelled and were subsequently and permanently exiled from the presence of God. We know that God’s creation of the angels predates His creation of man, because it was a fallen angel who contributed to the fall of man. We know that angels have a hierarchy and are messengers, guards, guides, and attendants at the throne of God. We know the names of only three. (Everything else we may speak to about angels, and demons, though worthy, is purely theological speculation.)

Besides the supernatural gifts that enabled man, a purely rational creature by his nature, to participate in a God-like life, there were also “preternatural” gifts. These gifts elevated man to the highest “natural” perfection, beyond his very nature and equal to the created angels. From the Catholic Dictionary: “God exempted man from the inherent weakness of his nature … He made man immortal, impassible, free from concupiscence and ignorance, sinless, and lord of the earth.”

When man fell, he lost both the supernatural and preternatural gifts. Through the merits of a redeeming Christ though, and ONLY through the merits of a redeeming Christ, He has restored to man the supernatural gifts which we call grace, both sanctifying and actual, that will allow him to participate again in the inner life of the Blessed Trinity for which he was ultimately created. If he so chooses.

Now, how does any of this answer the question, “Do Catholics Believe in the Paranormal?”

Webster’s defines Paranormal as “not scientifically explainable” and “not understandable in terms of known scientific laws and phenomena.”

How much of the preceding is “explainable” or “understandable in terms of known scientific laws?” In this sense, a Catholic’s belief in the “paranormal” is essential. The stakes of his eternal life are set completely outside of the boundaries of “known scientific laws.” So: CAN we, as Catholics, believe in the paranormal?”

When it comes to the readily accepted examples of paranormal topics, the answer to this becomes fuzzy. Ghosts, UFO’s, Reincarnation, NDE’s, Bigfoot, ESP, Astrology, Tarot, Channeling, Astral Travel, Transcendental Meditation, Visions, Prophecies, Miraculous Cures, Charms, Curses, Crystals, Enneagrams, Labyrinths, etc. Most paranormal topics reach into the occult. The list goes on and on. Yes with caveats to a few, maybe to some, a definite no to others.

But how can the Church dictate what interests a person may or may not pursue? How can an interest in the paranormal hinder salvation?

Let’s focus first on things spiritual. Here’s what the Catechism has to say on just a few topics:

CCC2116 All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to “unveil” the future. Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone.

CCC2117 All practices of magic or sorcery, by which one attempts to tame occult powers, so as to place them at one’s service and have a supernatural power over others - even if this were for the sake of restoring their health - are gravely contrary to the virtue of religion. These practices are even more to be condemned when accompanied by the intention of harming someone, or when they have recourse to the intervention of demons. Wearing charms is also reprehensible. Spiritism often implies divination or magical practices; the Church for her part warns the faithful against it. Recourse to so-called traditional cures does not justify either the invocation of evil powers or the exploitation of another’s credulity.

“Rejected.” “Gravely Contrary.” “Condemned.” “Reprehensible.”

There’s no room for misinterpretations. They mean what they say. You can’t compare these things to bird-watching. A curiosity is one thing. A belief is another. And an obsession is quite something else. Without care, one easily leads to the next.

The Council of Trent, Rule #9 regarding Prohibited Books, states:

All books and writings dealing with geomancy, hydromancy, aeromancy, pyromancy, oneiromancy, chiromancy, necromancy, or with sortilege, mixing of poisons, augury, auspices, sorcery, magic arts, are absolutely repudiated. The bishops shall diligently see to it that books, treatises, catalogues determining destiny by astrology, which in the matter of future events, consequences, or fortuitous occurrences, or of actions that depend on the human will, attempt to affirm something as certain to take place, are not read or possessed.

(Sortilege and all of the “-ancy’s” listed are forms of divination.)

Pope John Paul II reminded us more gently in his Angelus of September 6th, 1998: “If we want to give good direction to our life, we must learn to discern its plan, by reading the mysterious “road signs” God puts in our daily history. For this purpose neither horoscopes nor fortune-telling is useful. What is needed is prayer, authentic prayer, which should always accompany a life decision made in conformity with God’s law.”

None of this means that future events CAN’T be foretold, though. Saint John of the Cross, a Doctor of the Church, writes about this in Ascent of Mount Carmel: ” … although visions and locutions which come from God are true, and in themselves are always certain, they are not always so with respect to ourselves. One reason is the defective way in which we understand them; and the other, the variety of their causes. In the first place, it is clear that they are not always as they seem, nor do they turn out as they appear to our manner of thinking. The reason for this is that, since God is vast and boundless, He is wont, in His prophecies, locutions and revelations, to employ ways, concepts and methods of seeing things which differ greatly from such purpose and method as can normally be understood by ourselves; and these are the truer and the more certain the less they seem so to us. This we constantly see in the Scriptures. To many of the ancients many prophecies and locutions of God came not to pass as they expected, because they understood them after their own manner, in the wrong way, and quite literally.”

Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, one of the most prolific of Catholic visionaries, also made it clear that her prophecies meant nothing outside of what the Church taught: “In spiritual things, I never believe anything except what was revealed by God and proposed for my belief by the Catholic Church. What I saw in visions I never believed in this way.”

Even if a paranormal topic is deemed possible, or believable, or even credible, it doesn’t necessarily follow that a Catholic should devote any time or attention to it. (See Saul’s recourse to the witch of Endor.) Some things are harmless, but others are lethal; lethal not necessarily to your body, but to your soul. And the care of your soul of course falls under the domain of the loving Church. The Church is here to save souls, to ensure that every single one of God’s supernaturally adopted children attains the divine life. It’s mission number one – to make us saints.

It is incumbent upon every Catholic to heed the warnings of the Church and trust in Her wisdom - wisdom that speaks from divine revelation and two thousand years of careful thought. Obedience to Church authority on all matters spiritual is one of the virtues of heroic degree shared by every single saint in heaven. Yet, this obedience is not easy. As Father John Hardin writes: “It is so easy, relatively speaking, to practice obedience towards God as God because we realize after all God is Master of the universe; He is Master of me, what else can I do except obey. The trouble with obedience for most of us is when the one whom we are to obey is a very human, human being and we’re to believe that that terribly human being has the authority from God to either order me or at least direct me, when I may know perfectly well that my way is better.”

This is where it gets to the heart of the matter. With each topic, a Catholic is obliged to look at it in light of their Faith. Is it contrary to Church teaching to believe in it? To practice it? To promote it? And even if the answer to these questions is no, one must still ask one more basic question: Does it point man TO God or AWAY from Him?

Scripture is filled with warnings:

“Dearly beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits if they be of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” (1 John 4:1)

“Now the Spirit manifestly saith, that in the last times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to spirits of error, and doctrines of devils” (1 Tim 4:1)

“For there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine; but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears: And will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables.” (2 Tim 4:3-5)

Finally, the Catechism succinctly sums up the Catholic view regarding otherworldly knowledge:

CCC2115 God can reveal the future to his prophets or to other saints. Still, a sound Christian attitude consists in putting oneself confidently into the hands of Providence for whatever concerns the future, and giving up all unhealthy curiosity about it …

Catechisms, Councils, Popes, Saints, and Scripture all are in line on this and what they are unambiguously stating is: Leave it alone.

Our surety lies in the Sacraments and in prayer. Be humble, if God wants you to know the future or He truly has a message He desires to get out, have faith, He WILL take care of it.

She’s Waiting for You too

In addition to the entire month of May, the Catholic calendar contains nineteen universal days set aside to especially honor the Mother of God. September 12^th was the Feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary.

I always particularly love the Marian days but last month was also a sort of anniversary for me. I think it happened on the day before the Feast of the Assumption in 2003. I’m not sure, it didn’t occur to me at the time to mark the date. But that was the day that Mary introduced herself to me. My own Marian feast day of sorts.

I went to bed the night before, feeling bad about myself. In my pride, I had slighted someone undeserving of it. It wasn’t that great of an incident. Just a casual remark, like many I’d made countless times in the past. Such a small, small thing. Something I would say and think nothing of ever again. Yet on this night, I tossed and turned, unable to let the moment go. I realized for the first time that I had actually damaged another person with my words. It hurt.

The meditation with which I had experimented for years wasn’t easing my mind. I tossed and turned. I prayed the Our Father. That was a prayer I would occasionally still recite despite my disbelief in any Christian theory. It was easy and I could mold it to fit whatever I wanted. In a fit of despair, I did something I hadn’t done in probably 20 years. I don’t know why I did it. I was very much against it. I prayed the Hail Mary.

Up until that time, I had lived a life not too much different than most people my age. Maybe I had traveled a bit more. Read a bit more. I was conservative by the standard of the day. Still worldly, rather-selfish. I had dumped the lifeless Catholic Faith I was confirmed in and replaced it with a pursuit of happiness through material things and intellectual stimulation. I wanted to be my own man. I wanted to be free from any constraints – earthly or divine. A structured, rigid, dominating, archaic religion of superstition was the last thing I would brook. I believed in God. “A” god. Impersonal and vague, mostly hands-off. But only I knew what was best. On my checks was printed “I have no master and will never have any.”

Although I didn’t realize it, as I prayed the Hail Mary on that hot August night, I was admitting that I didn’t know what was best anymore. That I needed help. And someone must have fed me the words because I surely had forgotten them.

I don’t remember falling asleep that night but I remember waking up. Sobbing. The sun was up. I remember my heart pounding in my chest and my hands shaking. My first thought wasn’t “what is happening?” but rather “what do I do now?” because the act had already been accomplished. I remember the exhilarating feeling that from now on, nothing would ever again be the same. I remember profound sorrow mixed with profound joy. And I remember – distinctly – the presence of the Holy Virgin.

That presence followed me for weeks. Through my hasty scramble to a church (of course the one I found was the Cathedral of Saint Mary), with me into the confessional, and by my side at my first Mass and Communion since I was a teenager. I never doubted it. It was real and it was normal. She was there, always, pointing me towards her Son. Through her, I came to truly know Jesus. And through Him, the Father.

At first, I thought that what had happened to me was unique. But as I grew in knowledge of my re-found Faith, I realized that my experience was … common. I was amazed to learn of the similarities of my own re-conversion with that of others over the centuries. Instead of lessening the impact of my turnabout, it strengthened it. Mary had made me an active partner, although far too often a silent one, in the history of man’s relation with God. She was just waiting for me to ask.

Mary is known by an almost endless stream of titles: Queen of Heaven, Help of Christians, Comforter of the Afflicted, Mother of Mercy, Our Lady of Good Success, Star of the Stormy Sea, ad infinitum … some great saints have even held her to be the Mediatrix of All Graces. All of her names are given because of her direct intercession, one way or another, into the lives of us all. That’s what she does. Sometimes she’s subtle, like at the Wedding Feast of Cana. And at other times she’s striking, like at Fatima. She was assumed into heaven almost two millennia ago but her tender love for us continues to open our hearts and minds to God’s grace. She is the Mother of God. She is Mary.

May the Most Holy Name of Mary, under whatever title precedes it, be always honored for the faith and hope and love it conveys. Take a small break from your days this week and thank Mary and ask for her intercession.

She’s waiting for you too.